Ask Ausiello: Spoilers on Once Upon a Time, Bones, Gossip Girl, Criminal Minds and More!

Got a scoop request? An anonymous tip you’re dying to share? Just want to say hi? Send any/all of the above to askausiello@tvline.com

Question: Do you have any scoop on next Monday’s 100th episode of Gossip Girl? – Ivan Ausiello: Oh, do I. There is a ginormous revelation during the episode that could go down as one of the show’s biggest, most jaw-dropping twists in history. And it’s not directly tied to the nuptials.

Question: I need some How I Met Your Mother news! Maybe something on when Barney and Robin will finally get together for good? —Steph Ausiello: They’ll be otherwise engaged for the remainder of the season, Barney with new girlfriend Quinn and Robin with her one true love: work. “We’re going to see Robin’s career sort of take off in a new way,” reveals co-showrunner Craig Thomas. “She was always a career girl, and she’s going to start to [really] go that way… So we’re going to watch [her and Barney] move in different directions for a little while.” That said, Thomas acknowledges, “Those two characters and those two actors have this huge, crazy chemistry; I can’t say we’re done exploring [it]. They inform each other’s lives in enormous ways. Before the series is done we will have to address that.”

Question: Set the record straight — how many slaps are left on How I Met Your Mother? I say there are two, but my roommate says one. —Clay Ausiello: Tell your roommate he’s an idiot. “We have two left,” Thomas confirms of the long-running Marshall/Barney gag. “We were down to our last one, and that made us really nervous. So we were like, ‘We needed another slap!'” (In related news, according to theslapbetcountdown.com, the bet is set to expire in May 2013 — could this be our first official series finale spoiler?)

Question: Any Erin/Andy Office scoop? —Aly Ausiello: Sounds like Ellie Kemper isn’t in any rush for the stars to align for the unrequited duo. “I don’t know how it will be resolved ultimately, but I like that she has to focus on her own life and work and being without a man,” she tells us. “She broke up with Gabe as well, which was so funny to me…. Not in a masochistic way, but in a way that it allows her to grow a little.”

Question: Doing a little Renewal Scorecard freak-out after Sera Gamble recently called Supernatural‘s future uncertain. Do you still think it’s a safe bet for renewal? —Casey Ausiello: Yes. In fact, I’m thisclose to upgrading it to A Sure Thing.

Question: Anything new on the Criminal Minds front? —Paul Ausiello: Though series boss Erica Messer has for the time being ruled out a workplace romance between Hotch and Prentiss, you might want to keep an eye on the BAU agents played by Kirsten Vangsness and Shemar Moore when the Feb. 8 episode rolls around. “There’s some good stuff coming up with Garcia, her personal life [with boyfriend Kevin] and the relationship between Morgan and Garcia,” A.J. Cook (aka JJ) tells us. “It’s gooood, and it’s juicy. The fans are going to go bonkers and love it!” Bonus Minds scoop: You’ll never listen to “Total Eclipse of the Heart” the same way again after this week’s episode.

Question: I’m a self-prescribed television addict, and I’ve been meaning to ask you this: How many hours on average do you spend watching shows per week? —Esaul Ausiello: Oh, Esaul, it isn’t a competition! But, if you must know, there’s a simple mathematical formula I use to calculate my weekly TV viewing: Take however many hours you watch, add one hour, and boom — that’s how many I watch.

Question: The end is in sight! Fresh episodes of Ringer will soon be back on my screen! Give us a just a bit o’ scoop to make it through these final dark days? —Jamie Ausiello: Exec producer Pam Veasey confirms what I told you earlier this month: There’s a doozy of a twist coming in the girl-who-cried-rape plot between Juliet and Jason Dohring’s Mr. Carpenter. “It takes a different turn,” she says, “because it reveals that there’s a greater power behind it.”

Question: Any scoop on Ringer‘s return next Tuesday? —Katie Ausiello: Despite that pesky pregnancy wrinkle, Siobhan won’t be lying low now that she’s back in New York. “She’s not someone who just sits back and watches, so she’s going to get involved in the action,” says exec producer Eric Charmelo. “But her window for [remaining inconspicuous] is slowly shrinking because she’s pregnant and she’s showing. There’s only so much time that she has to allow this interplay to happen.”

Question: Is there any hope for us Alicia and Will shippers? Or any scoop on The Good Wife? —Flor Ausiello: There’s always hope. But I wouldn’t count on a reunion in the coming months as the exes make the awkward transition from colleagues and friends with benefits to just colleagues and friends. “What we wanted to explore is after you have such an intimate sexual relationship, how difficult is it to become friends again?” shares exec producer Robert King. “I think the problem is the sex was so good between them it’s hard to ignore. We’re going to explore how difficult it is to deal with the absence of sex in the relationship.”

Question: I still can’t get that Cary/Kalinda kiss out of my head. Anything coming up for my favorite Good Wife duo? —Summer Ausiello: Their future is just as murky. “The worry on that relationship is how does the boat sail?” King muses. “In many ways, Cary feels very hurt by the fact that Kalinda pushed [for something to happen] and then pulled back. Is there enough sense for them to give another go of it? That I don’t have an answer for.”

Question: After watching the winter finale of Bones, I noticed an obvious physical resemblance between Dr. Sweets and Christopher Pelant, the new serial killer. Coincidence? —Ed Z Ausiello: I like how your conspiracy-obsessed mind works, my friend — so much so that I sent your observation/theory to Stephen Nathan for vetting. “While we didn’t specifically choose to have someone look like Sweets, we did want to have a young, brilliant killer who would be an opposing force not only to Brennan, but also to our young, brilliant but not evil Dr. Sweets,” Nathan responds. “In Pelant we have found a contemporary villain, someone we might even call our Twitter killer.”

Question: I’m torn. I really want some juicy Bones spoilers but I’m afraid to ask. —Susan Ausiello: There’s nothing to fear but fear itself. And this photo David Boreanaz took of Nathan horsing around on the set of Bones earlier this month above the cryptic caption, “The Birth! Cameo?” Explanation, Mr. N? “I’m playing a doctor,” he reveals. “But I am not delivering the baby. I can say unequivocally that I am not delivering the baby.”

Question: Do you have some fresh news about the much discussed and highly anticipated 11th episode of House, “Nobody’s Fault”? —Máté Ausiello: The showdown between Hugh Laurie and special guest star Jeffrey Wright will more than live up to the hype. “Those two were phenomenal,” raves exec producer Greg Yaitanes, who directed the pivotal hour. “Watching two people bring that level of game every day was unbelievable.” As we first reported, Wright plays a renowned neurosurgeon who puts House’s process on trial. “To be the person who’s coming in after eight seasons to decide the fate of the series is an incredible task,” Yaitanes notes. “And he brought so much gravity to it.” Elaborating on the premise of the episode, Yaitanes says, “It will turn a mirror on every person that’s watched the show and thought that all of the dangerous stuff that House did every week was funny. And now something bad happens, and what does that mean? At what cost are we willing to see him take those risks? The outcome of it [impacts] the rest of the season. It’s a big episode.”

Question: Any scoop on the Downton Abbey Season 2 finale? —Janet Ausiello: Look for a deceased character delivers a message from the great beyond via a newfangled invention called a Ouija Board.

Question: Anything on 90210? —Kevin Ausiello: Ivy gets a new love interest and career when she falls for a graffiti artist and gets into tagging.

Question: Please, I don’t ask much. Just give us a scoop about Emma and the Stranger on Once Upon a Time. One episode and I ship them already! —Angel Ausiello: In the next few episodes, the Mysterious Stranger With the Typewriter’s agenda “becomes clearer,” teases co-creator Adam Horowitz, “as we realize he has designs on Emma — both romantically and for another reason related to the curse and more specifically to Henry’s story book.”

Question: Any scoop on David and Mary Margaret on Once Upon A Time? —Louise Ausiello: They won’t waste any time taking that kiss they shared in Sunday’s episode to the next level. Horowitz confirms that they’ll soon “begin an affair that they know is wrong but is also, somehow, right,” adding that, “Regina quickly makes sure that the cost of this true love trying to work itself out is dire.”

Question: I’m Italian. Yes, I’m an “illegal” viewer of many American dramas, but I can’t wait until the shows are aired on my Italian pay-TV. My question to you is… —Giovanni Ausiello: Let me stop you right there Johnny and tell you upfront that I gave your IP address to the Italian authorities and I think you’re in a lot of trouble.

Question: Although I still want six seasons and a movie, this seems to be your last chance to give us a scoop on Chuck (insert tears). Make it count, Michael. Make it count! —Heather Ausiello: You and your pressure-cooker questions, Heather. My final Chuck scoop comes in the form of a confession from Mark Pellegrino: The Lost actor admits he was a little shocked to be included among the assorted “call back” cameos in the swan song. “I never thought that my character would see the light of day again,” he says. “I didn’t even have a name [in my Season 2 episode], did I?! I was just ‘Fulcrum Agent,’ so it was interesting. The stuff that I’m in is pretty shocking and funny at the same time. I think the fans will enjoy it.”